Deteriorate
by The Layman
Summary: First of the Damaged Princess Tales. After three years of peace, the mind of Inoue Orihime begins to deteriorate, slipping back into old patterns. Karakura town faces a new killer, one with a smile on their face... M for blood, language, ect. Part one of the Damaged Princess Trilogy: Suffocation.
1. Waking the Demon

_No one really knows when it all started, though many guess it was not long after the string of mysterious gas explosions that plagued the Karakura area a while back. After that it took root and festered until it grew into what it is today. _

_Like aged silver, it tarnished. _

_Like a thirsting flower, it shriveled. _

_Like a dam filled to bursting, it broke. _

_Finally, it was only a broken shell; a pale reflection of what it once was. Many people mourned at its loss, wishing they'd somehow seen it coming so they could have done something about it. Even more mourned those in their graves who would never again be able to mourn for the tragic loss. _

_This is the story of how Inoue Orihime deteriorated into madness…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"And remember, kids," Ochi-sensei announced seconds before the bell would signal the beginning of summer, "do your summer reading assignments, and try not to die before school starts again in September!"

No one in that class really gave the Ochi-sensei's humorously ominous farewell much serious thought; this was normal banter for their slightly aloof teacher. Had they know the unwitting prophetic significance those words had, they probably would have hidden themselves away for the summer.

For one particular girl, these words were the beginning of the end of her sanity.

"Oh Hime-chan~! I know what you're going to do this summer!"

No, Honso Chizuru was not that person. (Besides, her sanity left her long before this dark adventure started.)

"Really? Cause I was kind of planning to visit some relatives over Summer Break," Inoue Orihime said, confused at her classmate's statement.

_This_ was the girl who would be the epicenter.

"Aw~! You're so _kawaii_ when you get confused, Hime-chan!" Chizuru reeled herself in enough to get back to her original point. "I was maybe thinking that you and I could spend some girl time together. My parents are taking a trip in a couple days so we'll have the _entire_ house to ourselves. Just think about it; You and me. In the house. Alone. No one else around…" Chizuru was starting to work herself into a frenzy. "Maybe a candle light dinner, hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, Barry Manilow playing in the background…" She began to fondle herself. "We'd both be wearing some sexy Chiffon lingerie, and we'd share a lover's kiss! And then we'd finally decided to go for it, and then…THEN…OH YES! _YEEESSS!_ DO IT ORIHIME! RIGHT IN MY-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" Arisawa Tatsuki screamed, punching Chizuru right in the gut. "You and your damn hentai fantasies… Isn't there some _other_ poor sap who you'd rather harass?"

"You're just jealous because I don't fantasize about you," Chizuru retorted, wheezing a little.

This earned her several more kicks to the stomach.

"Tch, fuckin' dyke… C'mon Orihime, let's get out of here and go meet up with the rest of the guys at the Urahara Shoten; I'd rather deal with normal insanity instead of the perverted kind…"

"Huh? Oh, OK!"

This was common occurrence at Karakura High school. Most days Chizuru would attempt to seduce Orihime, whether subtly or overtly, only to be beat back by Tatsuki.

Orihime, for the most part, just grinned and bore it. She knew what Chizuru was like, but being the kindhearted (and slightly naïve) person that she was she never really saw any harm in it; besides, Tatsuki was always there if things started to get to out of hand.

"Your…love taps are the highlight of my day~…" Chizuru grunted from the floor. Tatsuki tensed up noticeably at this and only paused for a moment before her walk out of the school.

"What's the matter with Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime asked in the "cute" way she sometimes did. "She's got little anger marks on her forehead~!"

"Knock off the 'cute' voice Orihime, I'm fine."

"No you're not," Orihime said, becoming "serious" again. "You always get mad and grumpy when Chizuru-chan is around. Why can't you ever get along with each other?"

"Because," Tatsuki began, "she just…." A moment after she trailed off she looked Orihime straight in the eye, "I hate the way she always tried to take advantage you all the time."

"Is that all? Tatsuki-chan doesn't have to worry," Orihime reassured her friend, slipping back into "cute", "I don't think Chizuru-chan means anything serious by it."

"Did you _not_ hear her back there or something?" Tatsuki asked incredulously. "Because she sounded pretty damn serious to me."

"She just gets a little excited sometimes…," Orihime chuckled nervously, sweatdropping.

"Hime," Tatsuki admonished, "I know you think that everyone is basically good deep down, but sometimes people are rotten inside, and there's nothing they can do to change it." Tatsuki heaved a sigh, "I guess that's why I'm so protective of you all the time; I just couldn't bear to see you up against someone rotten on your own." Then Tatsuki broke into a fit of chuckles, "Listen to me, I must sound like some cheesy soap opera." She ran to the end of the street and motioned of Orihime to hurry up. "Come on! We need to make it to the Shoten before everyone hogs all the good stuff!"

Orihime smiled and hurried after her stalwart friend, eager to meet up the rest of her friends from school: Kurosaki Ichigo (her secret crush), Ishida Uryu (a member of the Handicrafts Club she was in), Matsumoto Rangiku (an upperclassman at the beginning of the school year), Hinamori Momo (another Handicrafts Club member), and Yasutoro "Chad" Sado (Martial Arts Club member).

A week earlier they had decided that they were going to end the school year by getting drunk. It had been Matsumoto's idea originally; apparently it was a school tradition for a third-year to take a group of younger students out on a binger. Uryu had been against it initially, but in the end he'd been peer pressured into it. Tatsuki had also been a hard sell, and had only relented when it was mentioned that Chizuru had done it last year, and eagerly too. Rather than be outdone by lesbianic rival, Tatsuki had vowed that if she didn't drain at least four gallons of alcohol she'd make out with Chizuru in front of the entire student body. (A promise she'd never have to fulfill if she had anything to say about it.)

When the arrived at the Shoten Matsumoto, Hinamori, and Chad were already waiting for them. A few minutes later Ichigo appeared, a sulky Uryu trudging along behind him. "I still don't know how I got connived into this," the bespectacled youth bemoaned.

"Because after tonight you won't have that stick up your ass," Ichigo snapped. "Just shut up and don't ruin it for the rest of us…"

"I see you two finally made it," Matsumoto said as the two boys joined the rest of the group. She motioned for them to follow her, "Everything's all set up if the back; come on!" They followed to buxom Third year student behind the shop where several bottles of wine, saké, and other liquors were set up.

"Geez Rangiku, did you rob a liquor store?" Tatsuki marveled, her eyes wide at the display.

"You didn't," Hinamori fretted, "did you?"

"That'd be bad…," Chad muttered.

"Hell no! I'm not stupid!" Matsumoto exclaimed. "I just walked in and told Urahara-san about our little tradition." She winked coyly, "It also helped that I had a button or two on my blouse undone~!"

"It's a wonder why I even hang out with you guys at all," Uryu sighed.

"Now let's all get drunk!" Matsumoto shouted, popping the cork on a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon. After a while everyone was well and thoroughly soused, even the more reluctant participants like Uryu and Orihime. By midnight they were all singing drinking songs taught to them by Matsumoto. Only Uryu, Tatsuki, and Chad were didn't join in the festivities.

By 2 A.M. the liquor was gone and everyone decided to head home. Since they were all still in high school none of them had their driver's license yet; on top of that no one had thought to bring any money for cab fare, so they all ended up walking home. Tatsuki had volunteered to walk with Orihime, and threatened to kick anyone's ass who said otherwise. Her exact words were "Orihime's _my_ friend, so _I'll_ take her home. _Comprendé?"_.

"Tatsuki-_chaaan~!_" Oruhime whined, being "cute" again, "how much _longeeer!_" They were just up the road from her house.

"It's *hic* just up ahead," Tatsuki slurred. "No need to *hic* _worry_." She had made very well on her boast.

"That's _greeaaat~! *hic*!_ I _looove you_~!"

"I love you too, *hic*!" Tatsuki gave her a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek, secretly reveling in the fact that she was probably making Chizuru _very_ jealous right now.

"Tee hee~! Tatsuki-_chaaan _, stop it!" Orihime giggled. She playfully nudged the other girl off of her, only for her to slump to the ground. "Tatsuki-chan?" She dropped the "cute" when she realized her friend wasn't getting up. She began to get frantic, kneeling beside the unconscious girl, "Tatsuki-chan!" _Not her,_ she thought as tears began to stain her face, _pleasepleaseplease not her!_

"Well well well, what do we have here?" a voice said from behind her. She gasped and truned to see a tall, lanky man, with shoulder length black hair and a white eye patch over his left eye. "A couple of drunk, teenaged girls alone at night…," he licked his lips lecherously, "must be my lucky night!"

"Wh-wh-what fo you want?" she whimpered.

"Same thing every man wants, a little piece of pussy!"

"...Nani?"

"Imma fuck you up," he said, grabbing her by her face, "to put it into terms you can understand. And then I'm gonna fuck your friend over there." He threw her down and she collided with a lamppost, bashing her head. "Now to relieve you of all that unnecessary clothing…" He reached into his back pocket and took out a jackknife. He flipped it open and started to advance on the helpless girl.

"~I wouldn't do that if I were you~…" Orihime said in a sing-song voice as she picked herself up.

"What'd you say, bitch?"

"~It's not nice to force yourself onto other people, Mister~…"

"Fuck you!" the man shouted, rushing forward, his knife ready to pierce Orihime's porcelain skin. She waited until he had almost reached her, then with inhuman speed she tore the knife from his grip and stabbed his through his eye patch.

"~Funny,~" she chuckled, "~I was thinking the same thing about you.~"

"FUCK!" the man screamed, clutching his empty socket, "Shit _fuck_! What the fuck you stupid bitch? I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"~No you're not, because I'm going to kill you first.~" She giggled cutely and stabbed him in the stomach. As he fell to the ground she grabbed him by the hair and stabbed his other eye. She let him scream for a moment, letting his anguish wash over her in sweet waves of ecstasy. After a moment of relish she grabbed him by the mouth and slammed his head into the pavement. "~I don't think you're a nice man,~" she said, forcing his mouth open, "~but maybe there's something pretty inside you.~"

She smiled as she slowly slid the knife across his throat, letting his precious life fluid leak onto the asphalt. It was a happy smile, one that only said she was proud of what she had accomplished; like a child standing in front of their first finger-paint masterpiece.

"~Sleep sweet, mister,~" she cooed as he let out his final gurgle, "~I hope you enjoy eternal life…~"

After staring sweetly at the corpse for a few minutes before her smile fell and she began sobbing where she stood.

"Why is this happening again?" she sobbed, "I stopped this three years ago, why is it happening now?"

"_Why am I doing this again?"_

_to be continued…_


	2. Angel's don't kill

_Since she was very young there was always something lurking beneath the surface. Something…some would say unnatural. Something very, very dark. _

_It first manifested when she was six, shortly before her parents were murdered. It was around that time that she also had her first experience taking life. She ended up liking it more than she thought she would, and it changed her life forever. _

_For years after she and her older brother were orphaned she continued, chipping away at the human population with a happy smile on her face and the gleam of innocence in her eye, never realizing she wasn't being good. _

_Honestly, she didn't even care if what she was doing was wrong, it just felt good…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

For an hour Orihime just knelt next to the corpse, sobbing. She couldn't believe what she had done; a man lay dead at her feet by her own hand. Granted, he wasn't more than a sick bastard who preyed on young girls in the middle of the night, but he was still human.

Three years ago had been the last time, after she met Tatsuki. She had been a wallflower in school then; never really making any friends, sitting near the back of the class, ect. Then one day a girl with dark, spiky hair came up to her and said "Let's be friends". Since then she had let her beautiful russet hair grow out again, and all killing had screeched to a halt.

That is, until tonight.

She played with the ends of her hair nervously, her mind unable to determine what to do next.

"Why did this happen?" she muttered, over and over again. "Why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why did this happen?..."

_This _can't_ be happening… _her thoughts raged, _It _shouldn't_ happen; I stopped doing it years ago. Oh _why_ did he have to find us? Why can't things just be _normal?

_Because for you this _is_ normal. _

The thought startled her. Her mind froze, unwilling to accept the notion that she didn't find killing someone repulsive and disgusting. At one time she wouldn't have even batted an eyelash at the notion, and would have readily accepted it to, but after she met Tatsuki and the rest of her friends that aspect of her she had all but banished.

Tatsuki….

Tatsuki! In her utter shock at seeing her handiwork Orihime had forgotten about her best friend lying on the ground. She rushed over to Tatsuki's side and set about examining her. The experience just before had sobered her up a bit, and she could now see her chest slowly rising and falling steadily. She heaved a sigh of relief and set about carrying her still inebriated friend inside. Once Tatsuki was safely deposited on the couch Orihime decided that the best thing to do was call the police and tell them what happened.

The police arrived twenty minutes later along with and ambulance to take the dead body away. The officer that arrived first asked her what happened, and she told him that the man had tried to rape her. As they struggled she had managed to grab the knife he had away and somehow stab him in the eye. While he was dazed she just kept attacking and apparently must have got his throat. When she finally calmed down enough to think clearly, she brought Tatsuki in the house and called the police. It was the truth apart from one detail.

She didn't tell him that _she_ became the attacker.

"You were very brave to stand up to him like you did," the officer, Ukitake Jushiro, said. "This guy had a rap sheet as long as my arm of sexual assault and rape; I'm not sorry at all he'd dead now." Jushiro gave her the number of a therapist in case she wanted to talk with someone about it, then he signaled his partner and they both left. The sound of the door closing as they left caused Tatsuki to stir.

"_Mm_, keep it down!" she whined, attempting to prop herself up. "My head is _killing_ me!"

_Heh heh, "killing",_ Orihime thought sardonically.

"Hey, why am I at your house, Hime-chan? What happened last night; I didn't pass out, did I?"

"Hai," she nodded, "you did." Tatsuki groaned, which made what Orihime had to tell her all the more hard. "And…something else happened while you were asleep…" At that moment the siren on the ambulance blared as it and the police car pulled away.

"Fuck!" Tatsuki swore, grabbing her ears in a vain attempt to lessen the hangover induced headache. "Could those sirens be any louder?"

"Tatsuki," Orihime said, steeling herself, "the police came by just now." Tatsuki stiffened.

"They didn't catch us drinking, did they?"

"Mm-mm," she shook her head, "it wasn't that."

"Then what was it? And could I get a damn ice pack or something? My head is fucking killing me…"

Orihime _really_ wished Tatsuki would stop using the "K" word so much…

"I have one in the kitchen; come on, I'll tell you what happened in there."

When Orihime finally finished explaining to Tatsuki what had happened the butch girl was at a loss for words.

"Wow…" she sighed eventually, "Heavy…" She rubbed the bridge between her eyes. "And you say you've been like this since you were a kid?"

Orihime had broken down and told Tatsuki _everything_.

"It happened around the time my parents died," the damaged princess said. Opening up to her friend had been strangely therapeutic. "It went on for years until I met you in Junior High, you were the first person to come up and talk to the 'creepy girl' in the back of the class. This is the first time since then that I've killed anyone."

"But it's only ever been bad people, right?"

"Hai."

"So then that makes you like a vigilante."

"I guess so." She never thought about it like that before.

"Sugoi! You're like Batman or something!"

"You not angry or mad at me?" This wasn't really the reaction she was expecting. "You don't hate me for lying to you all these years?"

"Are you kidding?" Tatsuki scoffed. "I'd lie about a secret as big as that too us I were you!" After a moment of awkward silence Tatsuki asked, "Could you tell me about one of them?"

"Nani?"

"One of the bad people you killed. I wanna hear about it."

"Really?" Orihime never would have imagined someone who wasn't a psychoanalyst would actually _want_ to hear about her past. "Well, there was this one man…"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Kurosutchi Mayuri clipped the final twig from the dominant branch of his bonsai tree. He had spent much of the afternoon devoted to this task, neglecting his other duties. Now that his tree could not be clipped anymore for fear of damaging it he could turn his attention back to his other enterprises. _

_Namely his drug operation. _

"_Nemu!" he called to his assistant. "Bring me the report on the new batch immediately, and a cup of tea or something to." When his assistant didn't show he called out again. "Nemu? I said bring me the report and some eat, what the hell is taking you so long?" Loosing his patience he got up from his tatami mat and flung to door of his room open. "You useless dullard! I knew you were inept before, but this time you-"_

_Standing in front of him was a young girl of about nine. She had short, russet colored hair, and was holding the severed head of his assistant in her hand. In her other hand she held a carving knife, still dripping with blood. _

_She was staring at him with an unnerving child-like innocence. _

"_~Poor Nemu-chan,~" she said as if nothing in the world were wrong, "~you weren't very nice to her, were you?~" _

"_How the fuck did you get in here?" Mayuri demanded. "Why didn't my guards stop you?" _

"_~You mean the to men sleeping by the door? Oh they didn't mind; Orihime just walked right in!~" _

"_What do you mean, 'walked right in'? They wouldn't…" _

_Then the rest of what she said sunk in; "sleeping men" obviously didn't mean his guards decided to take a quick cat nap. He decided to try a different approach. _

"_Why did you come here in the first place?" _

"_~Silly!~" she scolded playfully. "~I came to kill you!~"_

_This he did not see coming. _

_He began to slowly inch his way to an antique sword that hung on the wall, "Why do want to kill me?"_

"_~Because you made the bad medicine that killed Sora-nii's girlfriend.~" She's doing this for her brother's girlfriend? "~Kairi-neechan was a nice girl, but she didn't have a good life. She told me that Sora-nii was the only thing that made her happy.~_

"_~One day I found these bad pills in Kairi-neechan's purse and asked her about them. She grabbed them from me and told me they we her prescription. Later, I saw her taking them, and then she got really quiet and happy looking. And her eyes looked really weird; like she was looking at stuff that wasn't really there. Two weeks later she was found dead in a pool of throw-up.~_

"_~You know, it's really neat what you can find on the internet.~" _

_All this time the same innocent, happy expression never left her face. _

"_~That's how I found you. It was really easy to, and please don't take that sword.~" _

_He froze, shocked that this little girl had noticed something so subtle. Since she knew anyways he grabbed the sword and lunged at her. _

_However, she saw this and moved to dodge, bringing the severed head up in the path of the blade. It caught in the flesh and she used it to disarm the older man, at the same time bringing the carving knife up and stabbing him in the groin. He fell to the floor almost instantly. _

"_Shiiit!" he squeaked out, clutching his now ruined genitals. _

"_~You should die for hurting Sora-nii like that,~" she said as she held his hair and began to pry out his eyes. "~I wonder if you can still see pretty things if you eyes don't work?~"_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Shit Orihime, I can't believe you took out a drug kingpin!" Tatsuki praised, making Orihime blush profusely. "You've got more balls than most guys I know."

Orihime was just sat there, playing with the ends of her hair. In all her life she would never have imagined that _anyone_ would actually approve of who she was and what she did. To her knowledge society usually frowns on killing, close relations even more so. That's how Sora reacted when he found out.

"Have you ever killed someone who didn't deserve it?"

Tatsuki's question snapped Orihime out of her musings.

"Huh, what was that?"

"I asked if you ever killed anyone without a good reason."

Orihime shook her head. "No, I never have."

"Well, that good then." Tatsuki leaned back on the couch, "I still can't believe I'm friends with a fucking vigilante! And you of all people! Who would ever think that sweet, innocent Inoue Orihime would have the balls!"

"That's kind of the idea," she chuckled nervously. "Plus, it kind of keeps people who don't know me from before from connecting me to that person."

"Clever."

For a while they just talked about Orihime and her past, rehashing her life before she met Tatsuki in Junior High. They talked about Inoue Sora, and Orihime started to get misty eyed remembering her dearly departed brother.

Eventually, Tatsuki asked something that took Orihime utterly and completely by surprise.

"Do you do requests?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Chizuru sat on her bed with a picture of Orihime in the school swimsuit in front of her; she had her right hand down her skirt, fondling herself.

"_Oh Orihime!_" she moaned, "_Soon…!_"

_to be continued…_


	3. I kissed a girl

_She never killed anyone who didn't provoke her first; there was never any need to before. As broken as she was, there was always a small part of her that remained uncorrupted, pure. Even when she killed the man responsible for making the drugs that killed her brother's girlfriend, it was only because he hurt her Nii-chan. _

_By no means was she some sort of dark avenger, some anti-hero living in the shadows; she was just a little girl did the only thing she knew how to do to make everything all better. _

_But as she begins to deteriorate these rules and restrictions that keep her in check begin to mean less and less…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Two days had gone by since Orihime told Tatsuki the truth about what she was and had been. Ever since Tatsuki had asked her if she would kill someone for her Orihime had not been able to quiet her thought, always going back and forth with herself whether to actually do it or not.

_I can't just kill someone!_ she tried to convince herself. _Especially not when they've never tried to hurt me before. But, that was how I began… No! I'm not that person anymore! I gave that up when I finally made real friends. If I do this I'll just be throwing all of that away! They'll never understand the same way Tatsuki-chan does; they'll think I'm a monster. Even though I've always been a monster. So, are they really even my friends? Tatsuki-chan is the only one who's ever accepted me as I am. No, it doesn't matter, because they aren't going to know about me. Because I'm not going to do it! _

These thoughts wracked her brain as she walked home from the store, a bag of produce hanging on one arm. She had staying in the store longer than she originally intended and the sun was already beginning to set. On top of that the weatherman had said there was going to be rain tonight, and she wanted to get home before that happened. If she didn't make any more stops she'd probably make it in time to-

She turned a corner and saw that the entire street was blocked off.

"Sumimassen!" she called to the municipal policemen on the scene. "Oi, what happened?"

"A gas line exploded," one of the policemen told her, "took out most of the block; fortunately no one was seriously hurt, just some bruises and the odd concussion."

"Well, could you let me by? I need to get home before it rains."

"Sorry Jou-chan, but no one's allowed through until this damage gets cleaned up; you're just going to have to find another way around." Orihime tried to protest further, but the man had already walked off.

Thunder began to rumble in the distance.

Seeing no other choice Orihime turned around and began searching for an alternate route home. She ran now, hoping to beat the rain.

She never got that far. As she ran across a street she failed to notice the car that came barreling down the road at her. Fortunately she saw it on time and managed to jump out of the way, but not before it hit her shin. As Orihime watched the car speed away she grabbed her ankle, wincing furiously as the pain shot through her leg.

At that moment the clouds burst and the rain fell.

Orihime broke down sobbing.

"Hime-chan, is that you?"

Orihime looked up to see Chizuru standing over her with an umbrella

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"_Do I…What?" _

"_I guess that one was kind of out of left field…But my question still stands; will you kill someone if someone else asks for it?" _

_Out of all the possible responses Orihime thought Tatsuki would give she never expected anything remotely close to that. _

"_I suppose…it depends who it is you think should be killed," Orihime answered hesitantly. _

"_You mean if the world would actually be better off without whatever person?" Tatsuki wondered. _

"_And if that person tried to hurt someone I cared about," the damaged princess pondered further. _

"_Then I think I have just the person," Tatsuki announced. _

"_Nani? Who?" _

"_Chizuru." _

"_Iie," Orihime said resolutely. _

"_Why not?" Tatsuki whined, "She meets the qualifications perfectly; the world would _definitely_ be better off without her in it, and every time she tries to seduce you it really hurts me."_

"_Tatsuki, I can't just do that to Chizuru-chan; she's my friend too!"_

"_And I'm not? Look, ever since we first met I've done everything I could to help and protect you; why can't you do this one thing for me?" _

"_I just…I just can't! I didn't even want to kill that last guy, it was just a fluke. I really don't want to do that ever again. Please understand, Tatsuki-chan…"_

_For a while neither girl said anything, both staring at the floor. Eventually Tatsuki got up and made her way to the door._

"_Alright, I clearly can't talk you into it, but promise me you'll at least think about it? I have to leave for a martial arts tournament soon, so think about it 'til I get back, OK?" Orihime nodded and Tatsuki left, leaving her friend to ponder on what she would do._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"I saw what happened just now; you're not hurt, are you?

"Daijobu," she winced, "I don't think anything's broken."

"Oh you poor thing!" Chizuru gushed, "Mercilessly run over by that horrible, _horrible_ driver! Left to die by the side of the road in the rain like a piece of discarded trash!"

"I'm _fine_, Chizuru-chan," Orihime protested, "really!" She waved dismissively and tried to get up, only to fall back down again as intense pain shot through her leg, causing her to gasp sharply.

"You are most certainly _not_ fine!" Chizuru scolded, dropping all nonsense. "You can barely walk on your own, let alone stand up!" Chizuru shook her head pityingly. "There's no other choice; you're just going to have to spend the night at my place," she said resolutely, helping Orihime to her feet.

"But-"

"No buts, you're coming to my place and that's that! You'll never make it back to your place like you are now, especially with that gas explosion that just happened. Mine's closer anyhow." Chizuru propped Orihime's arm over her shoulder and the girls began the slow walk towards Chizuru's house. Like Chizuru said her house wasn't far and they got there in no time. Once they were inside and Orihime was resting on the couch Chizuru dressed Orihime's leg and got her a cup of tea.

"You really didn't have to do all this," Orihime protested, taking a sip of the tea.

"Please, you were sobbing in the rain, how could I do anything else?"

_Chizuru-chan is being so nice to me,_ Orihime thought to herself, _I can't understand why Tatsuki would wish she was dead…_

"Then thank you for helping me," she said, giving a small bow.

"Aw, you're so cute like that, Hime-chan~!" Chizuru gushed, "The way you're face blushes and everything!~!"

_Same old Chizuru…_

For the rest of the evening the girls just sat and shot the breeze, with Chizuru occasionally flirting playfully. They ate dinner, watched the first _Bad Shields_ movie on TV, and had a midnight snack before both heading off to bed. Since Chizuru's parents had gone on a trip together their bedroom was unoccupied. "I'll just fix everything tomorrow," Chizuru had said, "make yourself at home." Orihime did just that, crawling into the large bed and sighing contentedly as she shuffled around under the sheets. She fell out of consciousness a few minutes after Chizuru left for her own room.

While Orihime slept Chizuru stood outside the door, thinking about the exquisite beauty that slept within. She was playing with the elastic on her panties, stretching them out a little before letting them snap back.

She was using every last ounce of self control not to give into her lustful urges, and frankly, she was failing; the thought of Hime-chan's perfect, curvaceous body just meters away was too much of a temptation to resist. She slowly, quietly eased the door open and slipped into the room. She closed the door just as quietly and tiptoed to the bed where her sleeping princess lay.

"Mmm, Orihime…," Chizuru breathed as she climbed into the bed, "you're so beautiful when you're sleeping…" She leaned forward planted a light kiss on the nape of her neck, causing the sleeping princess moan a little. This only excited Chizuru more and she started moving across Orihime's shoulder. Then her arm. Then onto her chest.

This finally caused Orihime to wake up, and at the sight of Chizuru pulling down the shirt she leant her Orihime shrieked and tried to push the aroused lesbian off of her. Chizuru wasn't so easily diswayed and kept pawing at the frightened fifteen year old. Orihime backed away from the voracious minx, only to fall off the bed as a result.

"Hm hm, hiding won't save you for long, Hime-chan~!" Chizuru purred.

"~But I'm not hiding~," Orihime said, picking herself up, "~I'm just waiting.~"

There was something different about Orihime's voice Chizuru thought. It sounded…younger, sort off; almost playful.

But very unnerving.

"Hime-chan? Are you OK?" Chizuru couldn't put her finger on it, but something about Orihime had changed, and it was beginning to scare her.

"~Genki desu,~" Orihime shrugged, "~but I don't like what you were doing to me.~" She stepped slowly towards Chizuru, "~And you _know_ I don't like it, so I'm afraid you'll have to be punished.~"

Under different circumstances Chizuru would have leapt at the chance at some S&M, but with Orihime suddenly acting so out of character she found the notion unreasonably frightening. She began backing away, nearly falling off the bed herself. Fortunately she kept her balance and backed out of the room, turning to leave. This turned out to be a mistake since the moment she did she was hit in the back of the head with a picture frame. She lunched forward, disoriented, but managed to crawl to her room and lock the door.

She was completely bewildered and flabbergasted; she'd known Orihime for three years, and in all that time she'd never known the girl to act like this. And now she was talking about punishment like it was nothing! And that smile…somehow it was even scarier than Tatsuki, and that was saying something.

"~Where are you, Chizuru-chan?~" Orihime called in a sing-song voice. "~Come out, come out, wherever you are!~" Chizuru shuddered at the childlike voice, shrinking further into the corner she chose to hide in. She began to whimper, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

"~I know where you are…,~" the damaged princess said, bashing something heavy against Chizuru's door. After a few more tries the lock gave way and the door swung open, revealing Orihime holding a Dyson vacuum and smiling, "~I know you're in here.~" She set the vacuum down and picked up three large kitchen knives off the floor.

Chizuru gasped, and that was all that was needed to reveal her location. Orihime looked right at her and giggled cutely. "~Maybe now Chizuru-chan will learn that Orihime doesn't like it when you try to kiss her like that.~" Orihime threw one of the knives and it embedded itself in Chizuru's shoulder, coming clean out the other side. She cried out in pain and tried in vain to pull the knife free.

The second knife landed in almost the exact same spot on her other shoulder.

Chizuru had never felt pain this bad before in her whole life; even her semi regular beatings by Tatsuki felt like nothing compare to this. With both her arms rendered all but useless all she could really do was cry, tears and snot running down her face in force.

"~Tatsuki-chan was always so nice, keeping me safe,~" Orihime continued, "~this is my way of saying thank you to her for all these years.~" With no warning she yanked both knives out at the same time, eliciting another cry of pain from her unfortunate classmate. Spurts of blood erupted from the wound, spraying the crimson fluid for a few seconds before slowing to a trickle. She then took one of Chizuru's arms and held it up against the wall, pinning it in place with one of the knives before doing the same with the other arm.

"~I'll miss you, Chizuru-chan,~" she said, sliding the remaining knife over the strung up girl's cheek. A thin line of blood appeared along the knife's path, "~you always kept the days from getting too boring.~"

With a small, cute giggle Orihime took the knife and drove it into her victim's abdomen. The pain was so intense that Chizuru could barely even scream this time. Orihime cut downward, until all of Chizuru's guts were on display and threatening to spill out of her body. Satisfied with the cut, Orihime reached inside and began rooting around for just the right organ. When she found one she liked she took the knife and cut it out.

She dropped Chizuru's uterus next to the dying girl, leaving her to bleed out.

"It looks like Tatsuki-chan got her request after all…" Orihime muttered to herself as she left her friend's bedroom, wiping her bloody hands on her borrowed shirt. The she gathered up her own clothes and began the trek back to her own home, feeling a happy satisfaction as she walked away into the night.

_To be continued…_


	4. Face Down

_To the average person it seemed like she just went insane out of the blue, not knowing how gradual a decent her deterioration really was. Others speculated that she had always been this way, hiding in plain sight until the right moment to strike. Still others blamed her actions on a lack of proper guidance when she was young. _

_In a sense all these theories are right, but only a very select few saw her despicable act for what they really were; a little girl trying to just make things better for those she loved. _

_She was a good girl; she never left a task undone…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Orihime didn't get much sleep that night; between the events of her latest killing and the fact that sunrise was in a few hours she really didn't see any point in sleeping. She knew she should be horrified at what happened to Chizuru, especially since _she_ was one who ended her friend's life, but for some reason she just couldn't. It was a horrible thing she did; it was despicable, evil, contemptible, depraved, abominable…

And yet she felt nothing. Even her earlier disgust at the prospect of merely ending someone's life for a good cause had vanished.

While she was still pondering this her telephone rang. Seeing as she was really just sitting on her bed, fiddling with her stuffed bear Enraku, she got up and went to answer it. "Hai? Inoue house."

"'_Inoue house'? That's all I get?_" Tatsuki said from the other end of the line. _"I think I at least deserve an 'I missed you', don't you think?"_

"Tatsuki~!" Orihime cheered. "I missed you! How are you; is the tournament going well?"

"_About as well as can be expected,"_ Tatsuki said,_ "we're only just starting the qualifiers today."_

"This early?"

"_Yeah, I was just getting some pre-breakfast training in before the rest of the girls get up. Speaking of which, I didn't wake you up, did I?" _

"Iie, I was up anyway." She hoped Tatsuki wouldn't ask for the reason why she was up this early.

"_Really? Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare or something?"_

No such luck.

"Actually, yes, I suppose you could cay that…"

"_Really? You want to talk about it?"_

Orihime let out a sigh, "Well, I might as well you; you're going to find out eventually when you get back." She paused. "Chizuru's dead." When Tatsuki didn't respond, the damaged princess elaborated further, "I killer her."

"_Really? You did?"_ Tatsuki asked excitedly. _"What happened? Tell me everything!" _

Orihime told her friend the tale of what happened the night previous. She hesitated at some parts, trying to figure out how to relate the event in a, well…in a less gruesome way. By the time she was though neither really knew how to proceed from there.

"I didn't really want to," she said, "but after she climbed into the bed I just did really care. Even now I still don't think it's sunk in yet."

"_Frankly, I'm glad the dyke bitch is dead,"_ Tatsuki quipped suddenly, _"it sounds like you gave her just what she fucking deserved, too."_

"Isn't that kind of cold, Tatsuki? She was our friend."

"_She was never _my_ friend!"_ Tatsuki spat hotly. _"And besides, wasn't last night more than enough proof of her intentions all along?"_ Tatsuki sighed. _"Orihime, there's nothing you or anyone else can say right now that can make me feel bad for her; she's dead and I couldn't be happier!"_

A smile crept onto Orihime's face. For as long as she could remember no one had ever reacted so positively to her actions. Even her brother, when he learned what she did he ran out of the room, barely able to even walk straight. For someone to actually approve of what she did…

"I'm glad you're happy, Tatsuki-chan," she said, using her "cute" voice, "good luck in the tournament!"

"_Thanks Hime-chan, I'll win one just for you!"_ With that Tatsuki hung up, leaving Orihime alone with her thoughts.

For the rest of the day Orihime went around town on a high, happy as can be. She went to all her favorite stores (only window shopping, of course), ate at one classier cafés in her neighborhood, and even bought a cake to eat after dinner.

And why shouldn't she treat herself? For the first time in her life, someone accepted her for who and what she was. Even encouraged it to an extent. She was going to celebrate this, dammit!

When she got home she put the cake in the ice box and went to change into something she could lay around the house in. As she was undoing the buttons on her shirt the telephone rang. She left the last few buttons alone for the moment and went to see (or rather hear in this case) who was calling.

"Good evening, Inoue house. Oh, Matsumoto-sempai! No, I'm not doing anything right now, I just got home. I was spending a day on the town, I was in a really good mood today and I wanted to treat myself. Oh, no special plans; just me, myself, and my cake. Of course you can have some too! Tatsuki's out of town right now, I'd love the company!" She hung up the phone and hurried back to her room to finish changing. Once she changed her shirt and put on some more comfortable slacks she hurried to the kitchen to get some snacks ready for her and the upperclassman.

A half hour later Matsumoto Rangiku arrived. She was wearing a plain shirt and pants, and had a white tote bag slung over her shoulder.

"Matsumoto-sempai, come in!"

"Arigato," Rangiku said as she slipped off her shoes.

For the next ten minutes the girls dined on pocky and Angel cake and shot the breeze. After washing all of it down with some amezake Matsumoto turned to her hostess.

"I've actually been meaning to do this for some time, Hime-chan," Rangiku said, fumbling through her bag, "to finally put something to rest that's been bothering me for years. It's actually something you could help me with."

"Whatever it is," Orihime said "I'll do my best to help you with whatever it is."

Matsumoto withdrew a wakizashi from the tote bag.

"Then die!" she screamed, raising the short sword above her head, ready to bear down on the startled princess.

Orihime shrieked and managed to dodge out of the way, more confused than anything at the way the upperclassman was suddenly acting. Eventually she was pinned by the older girl, the weapon pressing steadily against her throat.

"All these years," Matsumoto said, straining to keep herself from slicing Orihime's throat then and there, "all these years of having to look at your innocent, cute little face…How you can live with yourself every day…?"

"W-what did I do?" the angel with demon wings asked, sounding more scared than she really felt. "We've never even met until this year!"

"Oh don't give me fucking ignorance bullshit," Rangiku spat, "you know perfectly fucking well where we've met before. My sister was there too, remember?"

"You have a sister?" Orihime honestly couldn't remember meeting Matsumoto or her sister before she started high school.

"_Had_," Rangiku corrected. "You killed her."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Matsumoto Rangiku sat in her room, writing down a list of things she'd like for her thirteenth birthday. Sure it wasn't really for another couple of months, but she wanted to get it out of the way early. When she finished she added glitter and whatnot and went to show it to her older sister, Tia. Since her parents had gone out for the night it fell to Tia to watch over her baby sister until they got back. Rangiku loved her sister, even if she wore the turtlenecks she was so fond of the wrong way. (She pulled the necks above her nose.) _

_She turned off the pop music she had blasting and headed downstairs to her sister's room, hoping that Tia-neechan didn't have a boy in there like she usually did so she could talk to her. She crept silently down the stairs, straining to hear if there were any visitors in the house, or at least in her sister's room. When she reached the door she noticed that it was left open a crack. This was unusual, as Matsumoto Tia always kept her door closed completely, especially if she had a guest. Slowly, she peaked around the door…_

_And immediately wished she hadn't; her sister was backed against the wall, her eyes wide with abject fear. Standing over her was a young girl with short auburn hair, not any older than she was. She was holding a knife from their kitchen. _

"_~That wasn't a very nice thing you did,~" she said in a sing-song voice, "~running over Sora-Niichan in your car like that.~" With lightning speed she shot her arm out and grabbed the elder Matsumoto sister by the throat. "~He was my brother, he was the only person in world who was nice to me, ever since 'Kaa-san and 'Tou-san died.~" She raised the knife to eye level, "~Next time you need to watch where you're going.~" _

_She slashed the knife across the older girl's eyes. _

_Rangiku gasped mutely, covering her mouth with her hands. The sight of her sister cried was the most horrid thing she'd ever seen, and the sound of her wailing was unbearable. Her wailing was soon silenced when the knife was brought against her throat._

_But the worst was when the girl turned and looked straight at Rangiku, her face cheerful and beaming, like a toddler showing their mother their first finger-painting._

_She tore away from the door as fast as she could, hurrying back up to her room. She stayed up there for the rest of the night, eventually crying herself to sleep._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"I loved my sister," Matsumoto said, her cheeks stained with running mascara, "and I was never the same after that night; something about the whole thing messed me up. My only consolation was that no matter what I did I was never as bad you." She let out a breath she'd been holding. "Are there any last words you'd like to say in your pitiful defense, whore?"

Orihime smiled serenely.

"~You're wrong, since you're the one who's going to die.~"

_To be continued…_


	5. I don't like your girlfriend

_For a while she still had some meager control over her faculties, almost like a breaker switch if you will; it would not activate unless under specific circumstances. It was also temporary, as it would deactivate once its task was accomplished. _

_This was how it had always worked, there was never any need for it to work differently; she would leave the world alone unless it tried to hurt her. _

_But sometimes the world doesn't have to go out of its way to hurt someone. It can do that just as easily letting things be, and it was such an incident that allowed what was being controlled to take control for itself. _

_So continued to deteriorate the girl who was Inoue Orihime…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

The next day, after Orihime had eradicated the evidence, she went out again. Not to treat herself, she was not so frivolous; this time she was going to meet with friends. Momo had called her around eleven o'clock and asked her if she wanted to hang out with the rest of the gang. Since she didn't have any other plans after the body was disposed Orihime readily accepted. She finished drying her hair and did it up with the clips her brother got her. They were a pair of bobby pins, colored blue, with a simple, six petaled flower on each. Her brother had given them to her right before he died…

After her hair she put on a simple button up blouse, a peasant skirt, and chose a pair of yellow pumps in lieu of her normal shoes. She then stuffed some necessities in her purse and headed out to catch a bus downtown.

She met her friends in front of the Urahara Shoten. Everyone was there; Ichigo, Uryu, Momo, and Chad, along with a girl that Orihime didn't remember seeing before.

"Konichiwa everyone!" she greeted warmly before turning to the new face. "I don't believe we've before," she said cordially, "Watashi wa Inoue Orihime. What's your name?"

"Kuchiki Rukia," the petite girl said, bowing respectfully. The action caused a lock of hair to fall loose, and when she righted herself it fell tastefully across her face. "It's nice to meet you."

"Rukia is in the Kendo club like I am," Ichigo explained, "I spend so much time with her already I thought she'd like to meet you guys." Then his face dropped. "I thought Matsumoto would be here. You did call her," he asked Momo, "didn't you?"

"Of course," she said, "but no one ever picked up the phone."

"She probably drank herself silly last night," Uryu suggested. "Most likely she's out buying all the eki-kyabe she can to help with her hangover."

"More likely she's shacked up with that guy from Martial Arts club she's always making eyes at," Ichigo said. "What was his name again…?"

"Hisagi Shuuhei," Chad answered fiddling with the foreign coin he wore around his neck.

"Right, him. He told us he was coming down with a head cold, but I bet it was really just an excuse to get snuggly in her pants." Ichigo leaned against a pole, "But enough about that, let's talk about something else." He grabbed Rukia's arm and gently pulled her close to him, "I might as well tell you guys before you hear it from all the gossip mongers at school; Rukia and I are going steady now!" He leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek, causing her to giggle cutely. He turned back to his friend, "Why isn't anyone saying anything?"

While everyone else returned to their senses Orihime kept staring into space. _How could Ichigo be with that girl?_ she thought, _This isn't right_, I'm _the one that loves him. _I'm _the one he should be with, not her. How could he betray me like this?_

"Inoue? Earth to Inoue-san? Oi, you in there?" Orihime snapped to attention, suddenly staring point blank at Ichigo, scowling face.

"Ah!" she gasped staggering back a bit.

"You OK?" Uryu asked, looking genuinely concerned. "You look like you're going to be sick."

"You went white," Chad remarked.

"Iie," she shook her head rapidly, "I'm fine; I just get like that sometimes." She knocked her head a few times, "Just a little bit spacey!"

"Oh that's a relief," Rukia sighed. "I'd hate to think I was the cause of something bad."

_Oh you have no idea…_

"Well now that you're back on planet Earth, how do you feel about going to get some lunch?"

"We were going to try this new place that opened up recently called _The Wish Shop_," Hinamori said, "they say they can make any dish you could think of."

"That sounds interesting," Orihime said hesitantly, "but I think I might not be feeling so well after all." She brought her hand up to her temple, "I feel like I might be coming down with something…"

"That's too bad," Momo said, disappointed.

"Eat plenty of soup," Chad advised.

"Would you like someone to walk you home?" Ishida asked.

"I can manage," she said, walking towards a bus stop that would take her home. She waved back at the group, "~Have fun while you can Ichigo, Rukia!~"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Later that night Ichigo and Rukia were alone in his room, making hot, steamy love to each other. His father had taken his sisters to see a filming of _Spirit Hunter_ out of town, and were going to be gone until afternoon the next day.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Rukia asked as they caught their breath.

"Because you'd rather do it with those sticks we swing than with me," he said, kissing the nape of her neck playfully. She scoffed, bapping him on the head with a pillow.

"At least the 'sticks' don't sass me in the afterglow," she said haughtily, attempting to climb out of bed.

He grabbed her arm, pleading "Don't go!" in a theatric whine. "Besides, the sticks don't have _nearly_ the stamina _I_ have."

"Fuck you!"

"You already did," he chuckled, pulling her into another kiss.

At that moment the doorbell rang.

"Who the fuck would be here at this hour?" Ichigo wondered, grabbing for his pants.

"Whoever it is, leave them be," Rukia pleaded, clinging to his chest. "Don't leave me so soon…"

"And risk them coming in? Wouldn't you rather not have to share me for the rest of the night?" He zipped up his fly and headed down the stairs, the doorbell ringing again. "Hold your horses, I'm coming!" When he got to the door he unlatched and opened it, revealing the beaming face of Inoue Orihime.

"~Konbanwa, Kurosaki-kun!~"

"Inoue?" Out of all the people he suspected Inoue had been the last person on his list. "What brings you out here so late?"

"~I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by,~" she said letting herself in. "~So, _whatcha doin'?~"_

"Oh, you know, just hanging out…" _Something seems a bit off about her…_ "You want something to drink?"

"~No thanks.~" She moved around the room, touching pictures as she went. "~Although, if you don't mind, I do need to use the bathroom for a minute.~"

"Sure, go ahead."

"~Arigato gozaimasu!~" She skipped to the stairs, humming along the way. As she disappeared past the ceiling he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He didn't quite know why, but something about the way Inoue was acting just seemed…well, he didn't really know what, but it wasn't how she normally acted. She seemed…aloof; she was usually more timid, even when she was being outgoing. He didn't sense any timidity from her before.

He was snapped out of his musings when a chilling scream came from upstairs.

He rushed up the stairs and hurried into the bathroom, worried that something had happened to Orihime. But when he found the bathroom empty, another thought crossed his mind; the scream hadn't been Orihime's. When he thought about it, he quite recognized the scream, as he'd heard it not but ten minutes ago. _Rukia! _He rushed out of the bathroom and threw open the door.

There was blood everywhere, all over the walls. Orihime was kneeling next to the bed, facing away from the door. Just past her Ichigo could see Rukia lying on top of the sheets, covered in blood, her torso slit open from her neck to her waist. Her eyes were rolled back, her mouth hung open in a perpetual scream, and most of her organs were hanging outside of her body.

It all became clear; somehow, someone had gotten into his room after he went downstairs to answer the door. After he depravedly murdered Rukia Inoue must have come in and seen the result. It looked like she was hanging her head in her hands; she obviously wasn't taking it well.

Ichigo couldn't believe that this happened; he almost broke down then and there himself. He figured the best thing to was for he and Inoue to get out of the room and call the police.

"Come on Inoue, let's get out of here." She didn't move. _Seeing what she has…_ He moved to gently lead her out.

Then he saw that she had blood on her as well, all down the front of her shirt. She had what looked like a heart in her hands, and she was eating it.

She turned to him, beaming, "~Kurosaki-kun!~"

"Inoue? What-…ho-…why?"

"~She wasn't right for you,~" she said simply, wiping the blood from her mouth onto her sleeve, "~she didn't really love you. You shouldn't be with someone who doesn't love you.~"

Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes or his ears; he'd never have suspected Inoue would ever be capable of something like this.

"~Since I first met you I loved you. I'm much better for you, not like she was.~" Quicker than he could see she whipped out a knife or something from her purse (which he now noticed was sitting next to her, no consolation) and drove it into his gut. "~To bad you didn't realize it sooner…~"

He staggered back against the blood stained wall, sliding down it. He'd been in street fights before so he was use to getting beat up, but this was on a whole different level.

"~And we would have made such a cute couple, too!~" she gushed, slashing the knife across his eyes. As he thrashed about she grabbed his hair and bashed his head against his bedside table, knocking him unconscious. She let go of his hair, dropping him to the floor. She then turned him over on his back and straddled him, sitting on his chest. "~Goodnight, sweet prince.~" She kissed his cheek sweetly, and raised the wakizashi over his throat. Then she plunged the sword into his neck, severing his wind pipe. As he gurgled his last the damaged princess knelt beside him and slicing open his chest. With his insides on display she reached inside him and pulled out his heart, cutting it from the arteries.

"~This is you heart,~" she said, holding it out in front of her, "~thank you for giving it to me.~"

With that she began to devour it.

_To be continued…_


	6. Snap your fingers, snap your neck

_For years she continued in her quest, never knowing what she was doing was wrong. And why should she think she was in the wrong? Anyone who would think such thoughts never knew what she did, and those who would have approved always crossed her in some way, earning themselves a mark in her book. _

_No one had ever tried to stop her, and as such she continued to deteriorate unabated. _

_However, there was one person who couldn't let her continue…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Chad had seen it all.

Despite his large size he was always very light on his feet. This was probably why he was such a good fighter; being able to float around his opponents with ease, barely making a sound as his feet met the ground. This was to say nothing of his almost inhuman strength and stamina. One time, he stopped a falling I-beam from crushing some friends of his. The next day he was back in school, the only evidence of it happening were the bandages that adorned his head and torso.

All that coupled with a strong sense of justice made him a force to be reckoned with. Many a fight was broken up by the mere presence of "el Gigante".

No one could stand against him, even if they wanted to.

He had originally gone to Ichigo's home purely by coincidence; for some reason he was unusually restless that night and had gone for a walk to tire himself out. He just wandered aimlessly, and had eventually found himself in Ichigo's neighborhood. He hadn't planned on visiting the Kurosaki residence, but when he heard the piercing scream come from Ichigo's house he couldn't not investigate. He ran to the door, and noticing it was already open he went right in. After a cursory scan revealing no one on the ground floor he stood still, listening for any signs of life. For a moment he heard nothing, then a thudding sound came from the second floor. He hurried up the stairs and got to the door the Ichigo's room.

Just in time to see Inoue Orihime, in the same outfit as earlier, plunge a wakizashi into his friend's throat.

He ducked back out of the doorway, hoping he wasn't seen. He peered back out again, and his fears were conformed; Inoue was now kneeling beside the dying boy, slicing his chest open. She then reached in the opening she just made and pulled out his heart, cutting it free from his body. _"~This is your heart,~"_ she said, holding the now useless organ out as if for the now quite dead boy to see, _"~thank you for giving it to me.~"_ She then began to gobble the dead flesh up.

He'd seen enough; barely keeping his composure together he turned around and headed back down the stairs and outside.

What exactly had he seen in there just now? The sweet, innocent Inoue hadn't just killed his friend and classmate and eaten his heart, had she? And the bloody corpse of Kuchiki Rukia hadn't been lying on his bed, right? No, he couldn't just deny that this had happened; his personal ethics wouldn't let forget it.

Then he realized something; if Inoue wasn't stopped, she would just go on killing.

He couldn't let anyone else die like that.

His mission clear, he waited a little ways away, just far enough to keep an eye on it without being seen himself. He would wait for her to leave, then follow her until they reached a place where he could confront her where no one could disturb his justice.

About three quarters of an hour later she emerged, carrying something in each hand; in her right hand was and oversized purse, and in the other was a round bundle, tied up with white cloth. In the dim light he could just make out something dripping from the buddle.

_Probably one of their heads_, he reasoned, _her trophy._

He tailed her for a mile or two until she suddenly turned down a dark alley.

This was his chance; he would never have a more perfect opportunity to break the chain than right now. He quickened his pace and turned down the alley himself.

It was darker than he anticipated; almost none of the lights were working, save for a solitary one near the other end. In addition, as his eyes began to adjust, he noticed that there were a lot of nooks and crannies; perfect for an ambush. However, he knew that he was most likely the only one who was able to put an end to this, to keep it from continuing. Steeling himself, he plunged into the darkness.

He never saw who it was that hit him with the pipe, knocking him unconscious…

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

When he started to come to he realized he wasn't in the alley anymore. For one thing it was pitch dark whichever way he looked. Even above him was black; no sign of stars or the moon or anything, no light pollution of any kind.

He tried to sit up, fearing that he was lying on the ground, when realized he was still standing up. _That's not right_, he thought, attempting to give his arms a good stretch. This proved to be a problem, as his arms were already stretched to the limit. He felt chains digging into his wrists, large ones at that too. Whoever had captured him sure wasn't taking any chances.

Though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew who it was…

Suddenly a light was turned on, blinding him. He could just make out the blurry shape of a person standing in front of him.

"~I'm surprised to see you, Sado-kun,~" the damaged princess said, her voice measured and even, "~Why were you following me?~"

_No nonsense,_ he thought to himself.

"I was originally just going for a walk," he explained, "then I saw you at Ichigo's house." He didn't elaborate; he figured she already knew the rest from there. "I needed to stop you."

"~But why would Sado-kun want to do that?~" she asked. It was kind of hard to tell, but she almost sounded confused, unable to understand why she needed to be stopped.

"You wouldn't understand…" he sighed, realizing this.

"~You're right,~" she said, not even bothering to feel ashamed about it, "~I don't understand.~" She grabbed his chin, "~But that doesn't mean I don't understand that you were going to do bad things to me.~" Without warning she slashed his eyes, a fountain of blood erupting from the wound.

To his credit he didn't cry out, even though it was a worse pain than he ever felt in his life. Even though the shock of losing his sight scared him almost as much as the sickeningly sweet sociopath doing this to him.

"~Aw!~" she whined cutely, "~You didn't make any noises!~" She folded her arms over her chest on a pout, not that he could see it anymore, "~everyone made noises, even Kurosaki-kun.~"

If he wasn't in so much pain he might have been angry at that.

"~Maybe if I try this new thing…the 'nine tailed fox' or something like that.~"

Now he was _really_ scared.

WHACK!

He hissed, feeling his flesh tear.

"~Well,~" she sighed, "~it wasn't the noise I was hoping for, but it's better than nothing…~"

WHACK!

More pain.

"~Hmm, this isn't really working. I'll have to try something else…~ She whacked him one more time in the back for good measure before dropping the whip and picked something else out of a box just outside of the light. "~Ooh, this looks interesting…~" She pulled out a power drill and a small case of bits. She slid the safety lever to the 'on' position and let it run for a few seconds.

Chad almost shit himself.

She hummed tunelessly she ran her fingers over the different bits, looking for just the right one to use. She selected the longest bit she could find and secured it firmly in the drill.

"~If this doesn't hurt you, I don't know what will.~" She revved up the drill a couple times, then plunged it right into his crotch and held the trigger down.

He screamed, a primal, bestial scream, louder and longer than he'd ever screamed before. All the pain she had inflicted on him before this was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. Every rotation of the drill, every nerve and tendon being ripped apart, he could feel it all.

"~That's better,~" she said, stopping the drill after a few minutes. Then the damaged princess knelt down in front of him and began to drink to newly freed blood that flowed. She drank greedily, savoring every gulp of the precious life fluid that poured from the unfortunate young man. She eventually drank her fill, though the fountain continued to still pour out crimson; her clothes again moist with the blood of a person she once called friend.

"~Mm,~" she sighed contentedly, licking her lips, "~yours was yummy!~" She stood up and rested on his torn up chest. "~I think I like you the most; all the others always died too quick to be any fun.~"

He mumbled something, too quiet to hear.

"~Nani?~" She moved closer to his mouth, "~I didn't hear what you said, Sado-kun.~"

He mumbled again, and this she was able to make out his message.

"You monster…"

Monster? She supposed it was true in a sense; she'd never known anyone "normal" to enjoy what she did, and those people usually frowned at anyone who actually did. In fact, she'd often seen, time and time again, that others like her were called "sick" and taken away, never to bee seen again. She was always too smart to ever get caught, but that didn't mean she was stupid enough not to learn from those that did, the other monsters.

But Tatsuki hadn't called her a monster, no. Instead, she'd applauded Orihime, even encouraging her to embrace what she was. It was certainly more than Sora had been capable of… It was why she was doing this now, because the only person in the world that still mattered to her. Tatsuki was one of the best people she knew; she deplored the real monsters, the ones that tried to hurt her and everyone else allowed to exist.

So no, she wasn't the monster.

"~Oh I'm not a monster,~" she informed him, "~but you seem to be one. In fact, you were planning to do what that man with the eye patch was going to do to me, weren't you?~" Smiling knowingly, she took the drill and plunged it into his arm and depressed the trigger.

No sound escaped his lips this time.

That was odd… She tried it again on the other arm, only to get the same result.

"~You're not fun anymore…~" she said, disappointed that he wasn't making any more noises. She took the drill and jammed it into his skull.

It only took ten seconds for his last shred of life to evaporate.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

As she sat on the train that would take her to where Tatsuki's tournament was being held she thought back to the previous night; Kurosaki-kun, the girl that pretended to love him, and Chad, who didn't die easily. She smiled at the memories, proud of the good that she did; Ichigo had played with and broken what little heart she had left, Rukia had tried to take the one she loved away from her, and Chad tried and failed to copy what another man tried and failed to do to her and her friend. She thought of her other school mates; Chizuru, the girl who tried and very nearly succeeded in violating her, and Matsumoto Rangiku, out for vengeance because she couldn't accept a punishment Orihime had dealt. She thought of the man who had caused her brother pain, and the woman who took the life of her bother, among the many others she'd given eternal life over the years.

The world was truly better off without those people. A crusader she was not, just a girl with a happy smile on her face.

The conductor announced that the train had reached its destination, and that anyone who wanted to was free to depart.

Orihime grabbed her duffle bag and headed off to the building where she would find Tatsuki.

_~She'll win,~_ she thought as she got on a bus, _~I just know she will…~_

_To be continued…_


	7. Fight for love

_Eventually there was very little of Inoue Orihime left; her metamorphosis into the Damaged Princess was nearly complete. _

_By this time, "Inoue Orihime" was just a mask, a façade used to mislead and distract those around her. It was a slave to the dominant side; the wishes of one were the wishes of the other, and the other was slowly disappearing. _

_When one deteriorates, one looses something…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Orihime walked into the building where Tatsuki's tournament was being held. She smiled, showed the doorman her ticket (Tatsuki had given it to her before she left), and went to find her seat in the stands. She chose one of the higher up seats and sat herself down, waiting for her friend's match to start.

She didn't have to wait long; there were six matches before Tatsuki's, three of which were won by a dark haired girl called Soi-fon. She was a good fighter, very agile and hard to predict. She very well might almost be better than Tatsuki.

Soon after the last match the referee came out and announced that the next match would be the title match between Soi-fon and the champion from the previous day. He said that there was a fifteen minute wait for the fighters to rest before their match, and that anyone who wanted should use the restrooms if they didn't want to miss anything.

Neither of Nature's callings beckoned to Orihime, so she just stayed on her seat and waited. She thought about all the times she'd seen her friend's considerable fighting prowess in actions, and knew that this girl with the long braids wouldn't last long Tatsuki at full strength.

Eventually the ref came back and announced that the match was about start. People began filing back into their seats, some with snacks in their hands, and stared at the ring in eager anticipation; both these girls were good, and regardless of who won it'd be quite a show. A few of the spectators even had homemade signs for their preferred favorite that they now held up.

After a moment Tatsuki emerged and the crowd applauded. She stepped into the ring, followed by other girl, and the two of them met in the middle with the ref. He explained the rules to them, had them bow to each other, and stepped back, chopping his hand between them. They were on each other like lightning; punching, parrying, dodging, and countering the other's blows. When one would come with an attack, the other would either dodge or deflect it before launching an attack of their own. It continued like this for a while, with neither fighter having an advantage over the other one.

Then Soi-fon got in a lucky hit, knocking Tatsuki slightly off balance. Soi-fon pressed the advantage, and eventually pinned Tatsuki for the ten count.

The crowd cheered and applauded as the ref held up Soi-fon's hand, declaring her the winner. Tatsuki picked herself up, hanging onto the ropes for support. She turned to Soi-fon and bowed, and the victor did likewise.

Orihime first started getting confused when Soi-fon got her lucky hit in on Tatsuki; she just couldn't understand how her friend could loose to someone who was clearly her junior. She'd seen Tatsuki fend off seven guys who were clearly larger than her, punch Chizuru a good thirty feet on occasion and even left a crater three inches deep in a brick wall with her bare hands; so why did she loose?

There was only one possible explanation why Soi-fon had won; somehow, someway, she must have cheated. This meant that the ref must also be a part of it as well.

And she just couldn't let them get away with this, could she?

"Sumimassen, Referee-san?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Thanks for coming to the match," Tatsuki said once she and Orihime were in her hotel room.

"It's the least I could do," she said, "I've always wanted to see one of your matches." Then she turned somber, "I'm sorry you lost."

"Don't be; I smashed my arm in a door yesterday," she massaged her right arm, which was bound tight, "so I was kind of off my game before. Don't worry about it."

"But you should have won," the damaged girl persisted, "it isn't right that she beat you like she did."

"Maybe so, but there's nothing that could be done about it; it was a freak accident, could have happened to anyone."

Orihime sighed, brushing away a stray lock of hair that had fallen out of her clips. "It wasn't an accident Tatsuki," she explained, "somebody set it up so you wouldn't be able to fight properly in your match."

"You not kidding about this, are you?" Tatsuki said as she studied her friend's somber countenance. She leaned forward, yearning to hear more, "Who was it? We need to tell the tourney official, and-"

"That won't work; they're part of it too." She suddenly brightened up, "~But I took care of it!~"

"You took care…" Tatsuki suddenly became wary, "Orihime, what exactly did you do?"

"~I fixed everything so that you'd be the winner!~" She got up and tugged Tatsuki by the wrist, "~Come on, I'll show you.~" She dragged her friend out the door and down the halls of the hotel, ignoring the employees and other patrons they passed along the way. Many left the two girls to their own devices, but a few who recognized Tatsuki from the tournament tried to engage in conversation. When they did Orihime would just say "~Maybe later, I'm taking Tatsuki-chan to see something special!~" and continue on her way, her bewildered friend in tow. Eventually the two girls made their way to the basement, somehow avoiding all the hotel staff.

"~We're here!~" Orihime announced, stopping in front of an old door.

"Are we even allowed to be down here?" Tatsuki wondered as she caught her breath.

"~I knew Tatsuki-chan would be sad about loosing the tournament,~" she explained, not answering the question, "~so I made it better for her; now you're the winner.~" She took a set of jingling keys out of her purse and inserted one of them into the lock.

"Orihime what did you do?" Tatsuki persisted. "I'm not mad or sad or whatever about loosing. OK, maybe I'm a little mad that someone sabotaged my chances at first place, but if you know who did it then why are we down here? You should tell what you know to the referees, and-"

"~Referee-san was part of it,~" Orihime told her friend, the lock clicking open. "~But don't worry, I took care of him.~"

The words Orihime said registered in Tatsuki's mind.

"What did you fucking do!" Tatsuki demanded, pushing past her sociopath friend and storming in the newly opened room, only to trip over something in the darkness not two seconds later.

"~Silly,~" Orihime chastised, "~you forgot to turn the light on.~" She reached into the room and flipped a switch on the wall, illuminating a small closet.

In the light Tatsuki saw what she tripped over; two corpses, their throats recently slashed. One of them wore the uniform of the hotel, and Tatsuki belatedly realized that he must have been where Orihime got the keys to open the door. The other one wore a referee's outfit, and Tatsuki recognized him as the ref from earlier.

"~I told you I took care him,~" Orihime said, coming in and sitting next to her friend, embracing her in a snuggling hug.

Tatsuki was unable speak, merely stuttering incoherently at the bloody mess before her.

"~Referee-san was part of it,~" the damaged princess explained, "~he wouldn't have let her cheat otherwise. He's retired now.~"

"Wh-what about him?" Tatsuki stuttered, just barely able to find her voice.

"~I needed his keys,~" she said simply. "~Besides, he was doing something naughty in a room with a bunch of TV's in it.~"

Tatsuki couldn't believe what she was hearing; Inoue Orihime, the girl who was so naïve, timid, and squeamish that she wouldn't touch snake because she was afraid they were slimy, who couldn't even begin to contemplate hurting a fly, (much less another human being), was sitting in a puddle a blood of the people _she_ had killed on nothing more than a sneaking suspicion and a whim, smiling like nothing in the world was wrong.

This was not the same girl she was friends with.

"~It's too bad Miss Soi-fon bribed him to let her win,~" Orihime sighed, staring longingly at the dead ref, "~he was really nice to me.~"

"Soi-fon?" She grabbed the girl by the collar, "Where the fuck is Soi-fon? What did you do with her? If you fucking harmed one fucking hair on her head, then so help me I'll fucking-"

She slumped over into the bloody corpses, unconscious. Orihime's hand hovered where Tatsuki's neck had been.

"~If I tell you now it'll ruin the surprise,~" the serene killer said, picking her friend up and hefting her over her shoulder. She then turned to the far wall and stared admiringly. Whether by design or chance Tatsuki had never looked in that direction, too fixated on the corpses on the floor, and as such had not seen the third corpse strung up between the two shelves.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Tatsuki awoke slowly, feeling a dull pain in the back of her neck.

Unfortunately, the first thing she saw was a mutilated corpse. There were bloody cuts all over her body, the most notable were that her breasts were sliced open and folded open like a flower. The rest of her torso didn't fare much better; there was a long gash down her front, letting her organs and intestines spill out onto the floor. Her legs were stabbed to kingdom come so much that bone could be seen in some places. Her feet had been severed messily from her ankles, and one of them now resided in her lipless mouth. Her eyes hung limply out of their sockets, and a pipe was rammed straight through her skull, poking out the other side.

Tatsuki screamed.

"~See Tatsuki?~" Orihime said from behind Tatsuki, causing her to scream again, "~Now you're the winner!~"

Tatsuki couldn't find the words to describe how wrong this was.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?..." Tatsuki whispered, holding back choking sobs.

"~Nani?~" Orihime was thoroughly confused. "~I thought Tatsuki-chan would be happy she won…~"

"I didn't win," Tatsuki annunciated, "I lost, and just killing someone because they-"

"~She didn't just make you loose,~" the damaged princess explained. "~Remember the person who sabotaged your fight? She was the one made it happen.~" She walked over to the corpse and kicked it over; it's back was completely flayed of skin, leaving nothing but muscle.

Tatsuki fought hard to keep from retching.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" she exploded, unable to contain herself any longer. "Why the fuck would you kill her? Even if she was responsible, she didn't do anything to you!"

"~She hurt you,~" Orihime explained simply, "~which means she hurt me.~"

"But…"

"~_And_ if someone wanted to hurt you then they shouldn't exist, and the world would be better off without them.~"

It was the logic Tatsuki had helped her define just earlier that week.

"Orihime…," she said slowly, struggling to keep her composure, "I'm going to say something to you that I've never even imagined saying to you before…"

"~What is it?~" Tatsuki screwed up every last ounce of courage, stood straight up, and gave her former friend a mighty slap across her face.

"Go to hell you fucking _bitch_! You are _not_ the same person I met three years ago! You aren't my friend anymore and I hope you rot for what you've done!"

"~That's too bad Tatsuki-chan,~" Orihime sighed, somewhat disappointed that things were turning out this way. The last time Orihime had ended the life of someone who had caused Tatsuki pain her friend had been glad of it, joyful even. It had made her happy, encouraged her to keep doing the same thing again and again. She hadn't felt like that since Sora was alive.

But now Tatsuki was frightened of her, of what she did. Orihime was hated, and she didn't really know how to handle that, "~but you're still my friend, and I don't like that I have to kill you now.~"

"I don't believe you," Tatsuki stated defiantly, "I don't think you're capable of killing the closest thing you have to a sister."

"~I don't see why something like that's important,~" the damaged princess said, "~after all, I killed my parents.~"

_to be continued…_


	8. When Everything Falls

_The first time she killed it was a glorious new feeling that at the time was the only happiness she'd ever really known. She was conceived in corruption by parents that neither loved nor cared for her, and so was tainted even before birth. Her only comfort had been her older brother, though that couldn't stop the tears she cries when all else were asleep. She dared not shed a tear any other time, both for fear of punishment by her parents and as not to upset her brother. _

_The day she killed her parents was the day she stopped crying. She never really felt anything at their deaths, except that for the first time in her life, she felt happiness. _

_This fateful episode happened within the space of only a single evening…_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Orihime was sobbing in a corner like she usually did, waiting for either her mother or father to call her over so they could hit her. They always hit her, for as long as she could remember. At first it started out as a thing of convenience when she happened to be in the room with them; they would get mad about something that was usually their fault, and seeing no other suitable targets would find a was to blame her for their clumsiness and beat her until she couldn't cry anymore. _

_It didn't help that both her parents were drunks, either. Her father had a low paying job in construction that got on his nerves more often than not. Her mother never had any exceptional skills, and rarely left the house except to get food. She was the one Orihime had to tolerate most of the time. All things considered her mother was too inebriated most of the time to be any real threat. She was uncoordinated and missed more than she connected. _

_Her father was a different story; since he held the only job in the family he couldn't afford to remain drunk all of the time, which meant that he rarely missed his mark. Since he was in construction he was a lot stronger than her mother too and often sent her reeling with his blows. _

"_Orihime, where are you, you bitch!" her mother called from the other room. "You come out here right now you ungrateful little waste of flesh, or I'll come and find you with this skillet!" It was an empty threat, (her mother was too lazy to follow through on any of her threats), but if Orihime complied then her mother would eventually get tired of beating her daughter and send her to bed without dinner. _

"_Hai, 'Kaa-san!" She dried her eyes as quickly as she could and went to meet her mother. _

"_Lookit this!" she slurred, pointing at a flower of broken glass at her feet. "This was your grandmother's bowl, now look at it!" _

_Orihime remembered the bowl. Three years ago, when her grandmother was still alive and had come to visit, she showed the bowl to her when her parents were passed out drunk. _

_And now it lay on the floor in pieces. Her mother most likely knocked it out of the cupboard when she was trying to reach another dish. _

"_That bowl was worth a lot of money; we were going to sell it so we could have more money!" To buy more alcohol. "But now that's not going to happen!" Her mother drew her hand back, and by some luck she hit her child's face. _

"_What's all that racket?" her father asked from the den. I'm tryin' to watch the game in here!"_

"_Your little shit of a daughter here just broke our chance at another bottle of jack," her mother replied._

"_She broke what?"_

"_Your mother's bowl we were going to sell tomorrow."_

"_That little shit!" Her father stormed into the kitchen, half empty beer bottle in his hand. "That bowl was worth at least ¥26,000, why the fuck would you go and break it?" He clenched his empty hand into a fist and swung at her, knocking her across the jaw. It was just short of a miracle that her jaw did break. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and held her up, "You're lucky I don't break your scrawny neck for what you did!"_

"_But if 'Tou-san did that," the six year old girl pointed out with a smile, "then he wouldn't be able to hit me anymore.~" For whatever reason the man didn't think she was worth beating anymore, and tossed her down on the floor. _

"_Go sit in your room and fiddle with yourself or something…" He put his lips to the bottle and chugged the rest of the contents, tossing it carelessly to the floor when he was done. "Hope the damn game's not over yet…" he muttered as he returned to his meager thrown, the dim light of the fast shifting images dancing over his well muscled figure. Her mother ignored her now, intent on picking up the broken finery and cursing under her breath. _

_Orihime went to her room and sat there for hours, doing absolutely nothing; even her tears didn't come like they usually do. _

_After a couple hours of waiting for something to happen she began to wonder why she wasn't feeling anything. This wasn't like before, when she would just bottle everything up and try to forget about it; this time there wasn't even anything to bottle up, no emotions at all. It was strange at first, not feeling anything about anything at all, but then she realized that she didn't feel any pain anymore. This made her paradoxically happy. _

_However it was many hours alter that she realized the solution that would treat the source of the disease on her life; for Inoue Orihime to live, her 'Tou-san and 'Kaa-san had to be removed from the picture. She got up and went to the kitchen, looking for something with which to accomplish her mission. She found a couple half rusted knives in a drawer and held one in each hand, then she made her way into the den. _

_Their small, twelve year old TV was still on, playing an infomercial where a strangely dressed man was promoting his services as a ghost hunter rather loudly. Orihime didn't pay attention to his name ("Don Panini" or something…) and focused on the two figures on the ratty arm chair that sat facing said television. They were both asleep, and she could smell alcohol on their breath every time they exhaled. She stared at their ungraceful sleeping forms and brought one of the knives to bear. She then plunged it into her 'Tou-san's throat. _

_There was more blood than she thought there would be; it sprayed everywhere, on her and her still sleeping mother. _

_Her mother didn't stay sleeping for long though; the light mist of crimson fluid tickled her awake, and when she saw what had stolen her from slumber land she shrieked and fell backward of the chair. _

"_~'Kaa-san,~" the damaged princess said to her mother, her voice happy and unwavering, "~Orihime doesn't like it when you hit her anymore. I think you need to be taught a lesson.~" She slashed with the other knife and caught her mother on the cheek. _

"_Shit!" the woman screamed as her face began to leak red. "You bitch, you cut me you fucking cunt!"_

"_~I hope you have sweet dreams,~" the young girl said as she slashed again, this time coming across her mother's eyes, slicing them open. As her mother writhed on the floor she straddled her and plunged the knife into her chest again and again, not stopping until she hit the floor underneath._

_When her mother finally lay still she went to take a bath, washing away the blood before it became sticky and hardened. After her bath she chose a t-shirt a few sizes to big and crawled under the sheets of her bed, sleeping peacefully for the first time ever. _

_That morning Sora came home and saw the carnage in the front room. He rushed into the house (not bothering to take his shoes off) and scooped up his baby sister, carrying her away from the grim spectacle the house had become. _

_For six years after he never suspected his sister was the cause, not until she told him, causing him to stumble out of his new house and into the path of an oncoming car. _

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"~They were the first people I killed,~" the damaged princess told the shivering, spiky haired girl on the floor in front of her. "I remember it was really fun.~"

Tatsuki just sat there, her legs unable to keep her supported. Orihime had never told her this before, not ever when she was spilling her guts (pun intended) the first time; all she had said was that she first began killing around the time her parents died.

She had no idea of the hidden message within the statement.

"~Now it's time for you to sleep,~" Orihime said, taking a large pistol out from behind her back. "~Sweet dreams.~"

"How the hell did you get that gun?" Tatsuki stammered, eyes transfixed on the .50 caliber pistol in her former friend's hand. She'd only seen a real gun once before, in primary school when a policeman came and explained his job. He'd even let some of the kids hold it, unloaded of course. Tatsuki remembered it was heavier than she'd imagined. "No one's supposed to own guns except for the cops and the Self Defense Force…"

The gun Orihime pointed at her face looked much bigger and heavier than the snub nosed revolver she remembered.

"~Oh I don't own this,~" Orihime explained, "~I just found this in someone's luggage earlier!~" She popped out the magazine and saw there were five bullets left in the clip. She popped it back in and pulled back the slide, locking a bullet into place. She pointed it at Tatsuki again. "~I don't think I really like it much; it's loud and it kills too quickly.~" She paused. "~But I figured that since you helped me to accept who I am I wouldn't make you suffer.~"

Tatsuki was _really_ beginning to regret learning her friend's secret.

"And that's supposed to be a _blessing_?" Tatsuki had about come full circle at this point. "What the fuck kind of depraved logic does your twisted mind work on? If I really helped you as much as you say I did than you should be sparing me, not capping me off! Doesn't your friend deserve better?"

"~But you're not my friend anymore,~" Orihime reminded her, "~you said so yourself.~"

Tatsuki was royally screwed, and she realized it in full now. She had unwittingly set herself up to fall, and it was too much for her to handle.

"No…this can't be happening, this isn't happening…" She curled up into a ball, muttering "This isn't happening…" over and over.

Orihime wasn't the only one who deteriorated that day…

"~Uh-oh, I think Tatsuki-chan broke~" the damaged princess chuckled, keeling beside her shattered friend. "~She looks kind of funny now!~"

She shoved the gun into the poor girl's mouth. Her finger tightened around the trigger.

"~I guess since she's broken,~" she said to herself, "~I don't have a reason to keep her around.~"

BANG!

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Somehow, the policemen arrived before another victim could be taken. When they got a tip about a killer in a hotel they got there as fast as they could. One of the maids had found two dead bodies in a closet in the basement and had run into the lobby crying. After the manager had taken her aside and she explained what she saw he couldn't pick up the phone fast enough. The sooner this situation was resolved the better.

When they arrived they talked to the maid and she told them that in addition to the bodies, she thought she heard someone else moving around down there.

In the basement they found the room with the bodies, but since the corpses weren't going anywhere they left it be for the moment. The killer was still in the building, and since no one else came up after the maid, that meant he was still down there somewhere.

They didn't have to look far; in the boiler room they found three girls, two of them still living. One of the remaining girls was shoving a _hand canon_ in the other girl's mouth, and it looked like she was about to shoot.

There wasn't any time; one of the officers brought his own weapon to bear and fired, the bullet going straight through her skull. She slumped over dead, a cute smile still pasted on under the fresh blood that ran down her face. The other girl just sat there, curled up in a ball and muttering lunatic nothings.

The damaged princess, Inoue Orihime, finally shared the sleep she gave to so many people before…


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Welcome Home (Sanitarium)**

Unohana Restu frowned as she walked through the threshold of the Seireitei Insane Asylum. She never enjoyed visiting these places; the buildings were poorly maintained and the staff never really cared for the patients under there care. More often than not they just left the inmates to their own devices, only intervening when they got violent. Seireitei was different, one of the few institutions that was actually well maintained and properly staffed.

It needed to be, since it mostly housed the most extreme and violent cases.

"Hana-chan!" a woman in a grey business suit called to the somber doctor, waving.

"Ichihara Yuko," Unohana said, walking up to the woman and smiling warmly, "it's been far too long."

"Since medical school, right? Hard to believe we've both come so far since then, eh 'Rising star of psychology'?" The catish woman nudged her friend playfully.

"Personally I think become director of one of the prestigious Seireitei Asylum is much more prestigious," the doctor replied, rubbing her arm where her friend nudged her. (More for show than because of actual pain.)

"I'd have to disagree with you on that," her friend said, folding her arms across her chest, "but I get the feeling you didn't come all this way for a social visit."

"You know perfectly well why I'm here," Unohana-sensei admonished gently, "you can knock off the 'mysterious' act with me."

"You're right; I forgot how no nonsense you get when it comes to business." The two women turned and headed into the heart of the building.

They passed by several rooms where the inmates went in the evenings; most where empty, but a few had people in them, doing or saying whatever it was they were admitted for.

"These are mostly the mild cases," Yuko explained. "For the most part they get along with the others, and just do there own thing the rest of the time. Though there is the rare case of one of them having a severe episode…" She stopped in front of one of the door with the initials "C.C." on it and peered inside. A girl with wild lime green hair was sitting on bed in the middle of the room, her arms tied behind her in a straight jacket. It looked like she was muttering something to herself.

"What happened?" Unohana asked, peering in as well.

"She somehow got it into her head that we would be serving pizza here and she practically destroyed the place looking for it. She likes pizza."

"You don't say…" Unohana sweatdropped.

As they continued on they passed what looked like a rec room that many of the inmates were using at the moment. After that they came upon another set of rooms, most of which were occupied this time.

"This is where the more severe cases are," Yuko explained, now fully immersed in the role of the tour guide, "they're more troublesome than normal and sometimes can get violent. For example we have young woman named Suzumiya who believes she's god and thinks her circle of friends are something supernatural themselves. We also have a young man who thinks he's a ninja; he keeps making strange hand signs and says 'I'm a ninja, believe it!' to everyone he can. He even ripped up his shirt and made some sort headband that he wears all the time. He gets rather violent when anyone tries to take it away from him."

"That sounds pretty bad."

"It gets worse; during the night he talks to something he calls the 'Nine Tailed Fox'. It's probably nothing more than an alternate personality his mind made up to deal with some issue or other, but it's damn creepy to listen to." The Seireitei director shivered noticeably.

Unohana put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. Ichihara Yuko wasn't a woman who was shaken easily, so if something was unnerving her this much than it had to bad.

"I'm OK," Yuko said after a moment. "Come on, let's keep going; the next wing doesn't have as much insane ravings…"

They walked for another ten minutes, this time in silence; after Yuko's unpleasant experience neither woman felt much like talking. Soon they arrived at a heavy door with an even heavier looking lock. Yuko reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic key card, sliding it through a reader and opening the way into the Maximum Security Wing.

"We have to keep your new charge in here because it's honestly the only place that can hold her; she's incredibly unstable, even injured a few of the orderlies when they tried to restrain her." The director turned to her friend as the door slowly swung open, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," she said confidently.

"If you say so…"

They headed down a hall, passing burly looking guards every few door. The doors were different than the ones in the wing as well, they were made completely out of metal, a sliding shutter replaced the glass windows of the previous model. The names were also different; they looked more like titles than actual names. She even recognized some of them from reports as well as new articles she read.

Alexander Anderson: also known as "The Judas Priest". He was a special case brought in from Dublin, Ireland. He helped run an orphanage with other priests from the Catholic Church, and was reportedly very good natured. However he had a darker side that few people lived to see; he would become an unfeeling demon to those he labeled "irredeemable", slicing them up into little piece with his "blessed bayonet's". He was finally apprehended by a paramilitary group on loan from England. He was transferred to Seireitei when the facility in Europe deemed him "Incurable; persisting in delusions of righteousness and frequent violence".

Sonozaki Shion: also known as "The Hammer of Oyashiro-sama". From the small town of Hinamizawa, she was the estranged daughter of the local crime family. It was estimated that as long as six years ago she had been killing the populace in a ritual derived from a local piece of folklore. In the last few months she killed and took the place of her twin sister Mion, eventually alerting the authorities to her actions. She was finally apprehended in the middle of slicing up three young girls and a young boy, later revealed to be Mion's circle of friends.

Otonashi Saya: also known as "Diva, The Last Vampire". She lived in Okinawa for the last three years in the care of her foster father, George Miyugusku, along with her two foster brothers. She was found by George at his family tomb, naked and apparently suffering from severe amnesia. All accounts said she was a normal teenage girl, but it was later learned that she lead a secret life; during the night an alter personality, apparently called "Diva", would emerge and kill random people before drinking their blood. She was found by a gentlemen's club called "The Red Shield" in an alley drinking blood from a classmate.

Yagami Raito: also known as "Kira, God of the new World". He was by far the most publicized of all the inmates here. A promising college student, he made it his mission to rid the world of evil in his own way, eventually ruling in as god. What was unique about him was that he announced his intended victims publicly by sending video tapes to a news station and having them play the day before. It took the efforts world renowned detective L to finally bring him to justice. When the police were confiscating his belongings they found a notebook labeled "Death Note" that contained detailed descriptions of how he planed to kill his victims. A report she read stated that since his incarceration he'd been raving about his divine purpose, as well as demons called "Shinigami" that instructed him how to do it.

"This place always place always gives me the creeps," Yuko said, stopping in front of an unmarked door. "Care to take a look at what you're getting yourself into?"

Unohana nodded, and Yuko opened the slide shutter on the door. The visiting doctor peered inside the cell.

A spiky haired girl between the ages of fifteen and sixteen years old was wrapped in a straight jacket, rocking back and forth in the fetal position on the bed. She had dark circles around her eye and a good part of her hair was starting to hang limp. She had one or two dark blotches on her forehead.

"How did she get those bruises?" Unohana asked.

"By banging her head against the wall," was Yuko's succinct reply. "It happened the other day when one of the orderlies, Yamada Hanatarou, was bringing her some food. Out of nowhere she just flipped out, throwing herself around the room. Gave Yamada-kun a few lumps of his own before she was sedated."

"She looks fairly calm now. But because I know it will bug you if I don't, you can send in one of the guards in case she has another episode." Unohana smiled reassuringly.

"Oh, not 'the smile'!" Yuko whined. "You know nobody can resist it…Fine…You over there!" she called to one of the guards down the hall, "Please go in with Unohana-sensei and make sure Arisawa-chan doesn't hurt her." The guard nodded and walked up beside the two women. Satisfied, Yuko took out her card key again and slide it through the reader. The door clicked opened and swung out noisily.

"Arisawa-san?" Tatsuki started a bit, but otherwise just continued rocking. Unohana tried again, "Tatsuki-san? My name is Unohana Retsu, it's nice to meet you."

Tatsuki finally looked up and the gentle doctor.

"Tatsuki-san? I'd like to talk with you, if that's alright?"

"It's fine…" Tatsuki replied distantly. "I don't care…"

"Arigato," Unohana said as she sat next to Tatsuki on the bed. She flashed the girl her million watt, award winning smile, "I want to ask you some questions about what happened, do you mind?"

"Iie…" Tatsuki just continued to rock back and forth, holding onto her knees. Unohana decided to begin her questions.

"I was hoping you could tell me about Inoue Orihime."

"Hime-chan?...Oh, how is she?..."

"Well, she's dead."

"No she's not…"

Unohana expected as much, so she just ignored it for now.

"Could you tell me what happened before the policemen found you in the hotel?"

"Not much to tell…Hime-chan came to watch my last fight…I had a bum arm then so I didn't do so well, ended up loosing…Hime-chan met me in my hotel room after the fight, said she made it so I won the fight…I hadn't talked with her in a couple days before that…"

"When did you two talk before that?"

"I don't know…I guess after she killed the stupid dyke bitch…"

"You mean Honso Chizuru; that was a terrible thing that happened, wasn't it?"

"Not really…I hated her guts…She deserved what she got…"

"Yes, I think we're all well aware of your opinion on the matter. Can you get back to telling us about the hotel?"

"Hai…She took me to the basement where she said she had a surprise for me…we got to a room with some bodies in it…I didn't like it then…I got mad at her, then I fell asleep…When I woke up again I saw Soi-fon's body on the floor…"

"Soi-fon was the girl you fought in the last round of the tournament, ne?"

"Hai…I got mad at her again…Then she told me I wasn't her friend anymore…."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Tatsuki sat on her bed, still hugging her knees. She never really slept much anymore, not unless the people in white made her fall asleep. She didn't really mind it too much; the void it caused in her mind helped her to forget.

She had terrible dream, replays of the memory of that day more like. It was terrible; first Hime-chan cuts up Soi-fon from the tournament, then she put that big gun in Tatsuki's mouth, and then her forehead erupted in a geyser of blood. She was smiling the while time. It was too much; she just couldn't handle the shock of it all.

So she just pretended like it never happened; she figured that if she wished hard enough, then somehow it wouldn't have happened. Simple really, and easier than she thought it would be. Sure enough, Orihime came to visit her for a little while every day. Orihime would talk to her and tell her how she'd been doing since that day, reassuring her that everything would be alright, promising never to hurt her again. Even just earlier she'd told her that she'd make it so Tatsuki wouldn't be sad anymore.

For some reason, that made Tatsuki feel good inside.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"_Well, she's dead." _

"_No she's not…"_

Unohana rewound the tape a few seconds and pressed play.

"_Well, she's dead." _

"_No she's not…"_

And again.

"_Well, she's dead." _

"_No she's not…"_

And again.

"_Well, she's dead." _

"_No she's not…"_

And many more times. It was what bothered her the most about this girl, that she was either unable or unwilling to accept the death of her friend.

Deciding not to torture herself, she scanned the tape forward to later in the session.

"_Look, Tatsuki-san, I know this is hard for you to accept, but you're eventually going to have to come to terms with this." _

"_No, she's not dead…"_ Tatsuki shook her head furiously here. _"I see her every night…"_

"_Tatsuki-san, please-"_

"_She's. Not. Dead." _

"_Tatsuki-san-"_

"_NO! She's not, she's not, she's not, she's not, she's-" _Unohana didn't need to hear the rest; Tatsuki had gone on like that and thrashed about until the guard restrained her and Yuko gave her a sedative.

The way Unohana understood what had happened that night, Inoue Orihime, the girl everyone had taken to calling The Damaged Princess, had been shot right in front of the poor girl. That was easily more than enough trauma to mess a normal person up, let alone someone who was already under emotional turmoil. (If Unohana had seen the corpses the Damaged Princess produced, she doubted she'd have held it together half as well.) The way things looked now it appeared as if Arisawa Tatsuki would never recover from this.

What really bothered her was the absolute certainty that Tatsuki exhibited when trying to convince her that Orihime was still alive; it wasn't a good sign and frankly didn't bode well.

But she was optimistic; she would try until the very last to held this poor girl regain the lucidity she had lost if it was the last thing she did.

Glancing at her bedside clock she realized how late it was and decided to wait until morning when she had a clear head. She got up from her desk, undoing the long braid she normally kept her hair in. After changing into a nightgown she crawled in her bed, snuggling under the covers. She soon fell into the arms of Morpheus, drifting through a dreamless sleep.

"~You made Tatsuki-chan upset; that wasn't very nice.~"

Unohana jerked awake, staring at the silhouette standing in front of her window.

_Owari_


End file.
